On day two of the 2015 NCAA Track and Field Championships the women took the main stage as the multi-events came to a close Thursday afternoon at Hayward Field.
For the first time the new format seemed to make its mark, sending Oregon junior Jenna Prandini racing from event to event. She bounced between the long jump, 100 semifinals and 200 semifinals, with little time in-between to catch her breath. She even had to scratch her fourth and fifth attempts.
Prandini said she was able to handle things during the meet thanks to her adrenaline, though afterwards she started to feel it.
“I’ll be fine, tomorrow is all about recovery, getting in touch with the trainers and icing,” Prandini said. “I’ll be ready when Saturday comes around.”
She took second in the long jump with a personal record of 22 feet, 3 and 3/4 inches, and qualified through in both the track events. She also helped the 4×100 relay advance through to Saturday’s final.
Jasmine Todd also showed well in the long jump, posting her own personal record of 21-10 to finish 4th. Todd competed in the 100 as well, failing to advance through to the finals, which was a low moment for the meet.
“It’s obviously very disappointing, but as we talked about before every big meet there is always going to be ups and downs,” Todd said. “No meet is ever going to be perfect.”
The Ducks got off to a good start in the team competition, recovering from early missteps like Sasha Wallace and Annie Leblanc failing to qualify. They currently sit in first with 31 points. Arkansas is in second (22) while Georgia is in third (21).
“A good day for the Ducks as far as being able to score as many points or more points than we expected,” Oregon head coach Robert Johnson said.
Oregon fifth year senior Dakotah Keys was able to finish strong in the decathlon, taking third with 7863 points. That performance added six to the Oregon men’s score, extending their day one lead over the soon to be surging Florida.
Duck sophomore Brittany Mann took fifth in the shot put, bettering her 7th place finish from last year. Her best throw was 56-6, earning four points.
“Last year was kind of like ‘lets just see what this is about,’” Mann said. “This year I’ve been here, I know how to do it, I have expectations of myself and I want to help my team.”
Southern Illinois junior DeAnna Price set a meet record in the women’s hammer as she won the event. Price threw it 234-6 to top Jenny Dahlgren’s NCAA record set back in 2007.
Oregon senior Jillian Weir finished fourth in the event, her best throw (218-11) coming on her fifth attempt.
“Two years ago I was 17th, last year I was 6th, so in the final year to get 4th — I’m pretty excited,” Weir said. “Not really sure where I was projected, but I think I finished ahead of where I was.”
In the heptathlon Oregon freshman Ashlee Moore finished 19th, ending with a final score of 5486.
The final scoring event of the night for the home school was in the women’s 10,000. Representing the Ducks were junior Molly Grabill and senior Waverly Neer. Both ran strong, with Grabill taking fourth (33:26.61) and Neer placing fifth (33:26.61).
“For those two girls to be able to get it done on the biggest stage is awesome,” Johnson said.
The two embraced after crossing the finish line.
Click here for a complete list of results.
The Championships will continue Friday with the conclusion of the men’s competition. The first event will be the high jump finals at 4 p.m.
Follow Christopher Keizur on Twitter @chriskeizur
Busy day for Oregon’s Jenna Prandini highlights day two of the NCAA Championships
Christopher Keizur
June 10, 2015
Ryan Kang
For the second consecutive year Oregon has two athletes named as finalists for The Bowerman Trophy, which is awarded to the top male and female track and field competitors in the nation. Junior Edward Cheserek and former teammate Jenna Prandini will both wait to see if their names are announced …
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